Printing machines



June 9, 1959 w, HAMPTON 2,889,768

PRINTING MACHINES Filed May 29, 1956 :s Shets-Sheet 1 Inventor William. J. J'fampton.

June 9, 1959 w. J. HAMPTON 2,889,768

PRINTING MACHINES Filed May 29, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 [x 26 im @niHh, U

( Inventor William J. J'i'amptorz vqfliornegs June 9, 1959 w. J. HAMPTON PRINTING MACHINES 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed May 29, 1956 4 PT P W mm 4 .mJ L mw m PRINTING MACHINES William J. Hampton, South Euclid, Ohio, assignor to Addressograph-Multigraph Corporation, Cleveland, 01110, a corporation of Delaware Application May 29, 1956, Serial No. 588,088

Claims. (Cl. 10165) This invention relates to a printing machine, and more particularly to a printing machine wherein a sheet to be printed is accurately fed and guided to printing position to. enable successive areas thereof to be imprinted.

' The printing machine of the present invention is of a well-known kind wherein impressions are produced on a sheetfrom embossed type characters on a printing device. In a machine of this kind, the printing device bearing a printing plate having type characters embossed thereon is positioned at a printing station with the type characters facing upwardly. A ribbon or the like provided with ink transfer material is disposed at the printing station above the upwardly facing type characters, and the sheet to be printed isfaced downwardly on the ribbon. A platen is then operated from retracted or idle position to printing position whereat it is then effective toproducev pressure on the sheet so that the under side of the sheet is printed from the type characters of the printing plate. A. printing machine of this kind is described in Patent No. 1,745,994.

- Itis sometimes desirable to be able to use printing machines of the foregoing kind in listing operations, that is, to produce impressions from the same printing plate; repeatedly at successive areas on the sheet, and this entails successive advancement of the sheetbetween successive impressions so that fresh areas of the sheet are successively exposed for imprints at the printing station. The primary object of the present invention is to enable such listing operationns to .be accurately performed in a printing machine of the foregoing kind. Specifically, it is the object of the present invention to equip ;a machine of the aforesaid kind for listing opera+.

tions by arranging in the machine rearwardly of the printing station m'eans aifording a sheet guideway having associated therewith means. that yieldably engage a marginal edge of the sheet to be printed. A feed pawl or. finger is disposed above the guideway and is adapted to engage successively perforations in the sheet to advance the sheet forwardly during movement of the platenfrom printing position to its retracted position. The feed finger is supported pivotally so as to be retractably shifted to an initial feeding position during movement ofthe platen from retracted to printing position, and; spring 4 v f forward shifting movement of the feed finger the sheetmeansare afiorded which assure that during return or is efiecfively advanced forward so that the next area thereof to be printed is exposed at the printing station.

f Other .and further objects of the present invention will be' apparent from the following description and 1 Fig; '-1- 'is' a perspective view of a printing machine embodying featuresof the present invention; 1

2,889,768 Patented June 9, i959 Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the drive mechanism as sociated with the lister;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the sheet guideway and the drive mechanism for the lister;

. Fig. 4 is a partial perspective of the machine taken at therear thereof;

Fig. 5 is a-diagrammatic view showing positions of the feed-finger or lister finger;

Fig.6 is afragmentary plan view of the feed finger and its association with the sheet to be printed; and

Fig. 7 is a detail sectional view on an enlarged scale A takensubstantially on the line 7-7 of Fig. 6.

The present invention is illustrated in Fig. 1 as embodied in ;a printing machine 20 of the kind described inthe aforesaid patent, and thus includes a main frame or zbase22 in which are mounted feed means for an ink ribbon, IR. The ink ribbon IR, as shown in Fig. 1,- extends laterally across .a bed (not shown) above the housing 23, and this bed constitutes an anvil on which a printing device D is adapted to be supported. Print- 'L.- i-ng devices of this kind are illustrated in Patent Nos.

2,055,009 and 2,070,591, and include a printing plate having embossed type characters which face upwardly when the device D is mounted on the aforesaid anvil. The ink ribbon IR is arranged to feed through the print- If ing station thus defined and across the type characters,

' I produce impressions.

In operating a machine of this kind, a sheetto be printed is faced downwardly on the ribbon guard-25 with-the area thereof to be printed accurately oriented with respect tosthe cutout portion 26 of the ribbon guard,v

l and .after such orientation has been accomplished the platen30 of the machine is then advanced from its retracted position shown in Fig. 1 to its printing position whereata resilient facing 31 on the platen exerts pressure onthe sheet to produce the desired impression; The

. platen 30, as shown and described'in the aforesaid patcut, is supported by a rocker arm 33 which as shown in;

" to holdthe platen in its retracted position shownin Fig. 1

Fig. 4 hereof is provided with a bushing 35 journalled on astationary mounting shaft 36 at the rear of the machine; It will be further observed thatthe platen;

. operating.arm.33 is bent inwardly from the side of the; machine so as to dispose the platen 30' in centered rela tion above thevprinting station. As shown in Fig. 4',:

the bushing 35 includes a lug provided with a pin 38. A 'spring 39 is anchored at one end on the pin 38 and at, the :other 'end within the frame '22, and is effective and 'as more particularly illustrated in the aforesaid patent. Y

. In 'athe present instance, it is desired to produce sue-f P 4 that are located on the axial center line of the sheet, S.. The sheet as S which is to be printed is advanced; forwardly along a sheet guideway which in, the present; instance is definedby a guide plate 41 having spacedapart side flanges 43 and 44.

The guide plate 41 is so disposed that the forward: edge 'thereof'tenninates approximately at the'rear edge of the ribbon guard 25 as best shown in Figs. 1 and 3,- with the rear edge thereof projecting rearwardly beyond the backof the frameZZ to enable the sheet as S to bepositioned thereon. Inpi'derthatthe plate 1- 1 will clear;

Associated with the severance lines L are structure at the rear of the frame 22, a support bar 46, Figs. 2 and 3, is mounted on the upper surface of the frame 22, and the upper surface of the support bar 46 is beveled so as to dispose the plate 41 at the proper inclination. Rivets 47, Fig. 2, are disposed in the support bar 46 and serve to hold the plate 41 firmly to its support bar 46. Thus, the guide plate 41 and support bar 46 are integrated, and the assembly thus afforded is mounted accurately in position in the machine by apin 50. The pin has a knurled head 51, Fig. 2, anchored in the support bar 46, and the shank of the pin 50 extends rearwardly from the support bar 46 as shown in Fig. 2, and is pressed through ,an aperture formed in a boss 53 mounted on the mounting shaft 36. I

The sheet as S that is to be printed in the machin 20 is disposed on the plate 41 so as to be capable of being advanced forwardly in a step-by-step manner toward the printing station, and for reasons that will be apparent hereafter it is advantageous to hold the sheet firmly down on the plate 41. To this end, a pair of flat, elongated sheet clamps 60 and 61 are arranged in spaced-apart relation at either edge of the feed plate 41, and the rear ends thereof are bowed upwardly at 65 and 66 to enable the sheet to be printed to be easily passed beneath the clamps 60 and 61 so that the opposed marginal edges of the sheet to be printed are engaged thereby.

The clamps 60 and 61 are yieldably forced downward on the plate 41, and such is attained by expanded coil springs 67 and 68 arranged concentrically on vertical mounting pins 70 and 71. The pins 70 and 71 include upper portions disposed in openings afforded in a corresponding pair of angle brackets 75 and 76, Figs. 1 and 3. Thus, the brackets 75 and 76 include flanges as 75A, Fig. 3, that are fastened by screws to the opposed ends of the support bar 46, vertical Webs 75B extending upwardly from the inner ends of the aforementioned flanges, and inwardly projecting upper flanges 75C having openings in which the pins 70 and 71 are mounted. The lower ends of the locating pins 70 and 71 are reduced and fit in related openings in the clamp arms 60 and 61. It will thus be seen that the springs 67 and 68 acting between the flanges 75C of the retainer brackets and the upper faces of the clamp arms 60 and 61 are effective to yieldably force the clamp arms 60 and 61 into engagement with the feed guide plate 41, so that the sheet to be printed can be effectively clamped to the feed guide plate 41.

In order that sheet to be printed can be advanced in a step-by-step manner to printing position to expose successive fresh areas thereof for imprints from the device D, an elongated feed finger 82 is suspended above the sheet guideway 41 and is adapted to be shifted between forward and retracted positions during oscillation of the platen 30 through a cycle of operation. To this end, the finger 82 is provided with a pair of spacedapart ears, Fig. 3, serving to support the finger 82 pivotally on a pin 84 carried at the lower end of a- The drive arm or lever 85 is.

feed finger drive arm 85. adapted to be oscillated by a rock shaft 86 as will be described below, and a spring 87 is fastened at one end to this rock shaft and at the other end to an upwardly bent portion 88 at the rear or upper end of the feed finger 82.

The essential feed operation of the feed finger 82 is one of positive action in the present instance, that is, the feed finger 82 is provided with a projection adapted to engage the perforations mentioned above as provided in the sheet S. This projection is conveniently afforded as a projection 90 on a plate 92, Fig. 7, spot welded to the lower end of the feed finger 82, and the end of the feed finger 82 corresponding to theprojection is bifurcated to afford extensions 82A and 82B. As shown in Fig. 7, the extensions 82A and 82B are accurately dimensioned in respect of the projection 90 so to rest on solid portions of the sheet S on either side of a perforation as P-2 and this relation serves somewhat to hold the sheet feed projection off the plate 41.

The rock shaft 86 which supports the drive arm 85 has the opposite ends thereof journalled in corresponding spaced-apart arms 103 and 104 of a mounting bracket 105. The arms 103 and 104 of the bracket 105 are interconnected at the lower ends by a transverse horizontal web, and this web is riveted by rivets 108, Fig. 2, to the bottom of the plate 41 rearwardly of support bar 46.

As will be apparent from Figs. 3 and 5, the drive lever 85 that serves to transmit motion to the feed finger 82 is provided with a boss or bushing fastened to the rock shaft by a set screw. A rock shaft drive arm is fastened in like manner to the rock shaft, and this arm projects in a rearward and upward direction as will be seen from Figs. 2, 3 and 5. A relatively long drive pin 111 is carried at the upper end of the lever 110 and projects outwardly in a horizontal direction so as to engage a drive slot 115S afforded in the upper end of a transmitting arm 115. Thus, by oscillating the arm 115 corresponding oscillatory movement is imparted to the rock shaft 86 and in turn to the feed finger 82, and the way in which such oscillation of the arm 115 is accomplished will now be described.

A horizontal mounting pin is supported on the arm 104 of the bracket 105 adjacent the lower end thereof, Figs. 2 and 4, and this pin projects outwardly sufiiciently to serve as a journal for a bushing 121 to which the lower end of the transmitting arm 115 is affixed. Another arm 125 is affixed to the inner face of the bushing 121, so that the two arms 115 and 125 thus joined to the bushing 121 constitute a bell crank. The rock shaft 86 extends outwardly of the arm 104 of the bracket 105 and thus serves as an anchor for one end of a coil spring 130. The other end of the spring is anchored to a stub pin 131 projecting outwardly of the lever 125.. Thus, the arrangement is such that the spring 130 serves to rotate the aforesaid bell crank clockwise as viewed in Fig. 2, but this motion is limited by a stop stud 132, Fig. 2, fixed to arm 104 of the bracket 105.

The lever 125 projects forwardly and upwardly so that the upper end portion thereof underlies a portion of the arm 33 which supports the platen 30, and engagement between the forward or upper end portion of the lever 125 and the rocking arm 33 is assured by spring 130. Thus, the spring 130 biases the sheet feed or lister mechanism to its normal position shown in Fig. 2.

When the platen 30 is operated from its retracted position to its printing position, the rocker arm 33 is effective on the bell crank arm 125 to rock the other arm 115 of the bell crank counterclockwise as viewed in Fig. 2, and like motion is transmitted to the drive arm 85 which carries the feed finger 82. Thus, the feed finger 82 then commences to shift rearwardly back along the upper face of the sheet S, and as this occurs the spring 87 is gradually lengthened so as to cause gradually increasing tension to be exerted on the feed finger in the direction of the feed plate 41, until at the end of its stroke, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 5, the spring 87 has been stretched to a maximum extent at the time when the feed means 90 engages the next rearward perforation P-3 of the sheet S. Thus, as the platen 30 is going through its primary forward motion to produce an impression, the feed finger 82 is being conditioned for its next feeding stroke. Consequently, when the platen 30 is released after producing an impression to be carried to its retracted position, the bell crank defined by the arms 115 and 125 travels clockwise as viewed in Fig. 2 and the feed finger 82 is forced forwardly to advance the sheet S.

It 'will be recognized that the drive pin 111 and the center of rotation for the arm 110 are so related to the drive arm 115 as to produce the desired extent of travel of the feed finger 82, which in the present instance is the linear displacement between perforations as P-2 and P-3 afiording edges on the sheet to means 90.

I claim:

1. In a printing machine of the kind described having a printing station whereat impressions are to be produced on a sheet successively in different areas thereof, a platen effective to cooperate in producing such impressions on the sheet and operable in opposed directions between retracted and printing positions for each such impression, means affording a guideway along which such sheet is to be directed to the printing station, a sheet feed finger suspended pivotally above the sheet guideway and having feed means at the lower end engageable with an edge on the sheet to feed a fresh area of the sheet to the printing station, drive means including a drive arm and a rock shaft to which the drive arm is affixed to shift the feed finger in opposed directions between a forward position 'whereat one area of the sheet is disposed at the printing station in position to be printed and a retracted position whereat said feed means is engageable with such an edge on the sheet, said feed finger being pivoted to said drive arm, spring means effective when the feed finger is in its retracted position to forcefully hold said feed means against said edge on the sheet, means adjustably fixing said drive arm to said rock shaft, and means to transmit motion to said rock shaft included in said drive means upon operation of the platen in opposed directions between its retracted and printing positions, the lastnamed means including a rock shaft drive arm adjustably connected to said rock shaft.

2. In a printing machine of the kind described having a printing station whereat impressions are to be produced on a sheet successively in diiferent areas thereof, a platen effective to cooperate in producing such impressions on the sheet and operable in opposed directions between retracted and printing positions for each such impression, means affording a guideway along which such sheet is to be directed forwardly to the printing station, a yieldable sheet clamp in said guideway adapted to hold the sheet in accurate alignment in the guideway, a sheet feed finger suspended pivotally above the sheet guideway and having feed means at the lower end engageable with an edge on the sheet to feed a fresh area of the sheet to the printing station, drive means to shift the feed finger in opposed directions between a forward position whereat one such area of the sheet is disposed at the printing station in position to be printed and a retracted position whereat said feed means is engageable with such an edge on the sheet, said feed finger being adjustably connected to said drive means, spring means effective when the feed finger is in its retracted position to forcefully hold said feed means against said edge on the sheet, and means to transmit motion to said drive means upon operation of the platen in opposed directions between its retracted and printing positions, said transmitting means being adjustably connected to said drive means.

3. In a printing machine of the kind described having a printing station whereat impressions are to be produced on a sheet successively in different areas thereof, a platen carried on a platen operating arm and elfective to cooperate in producing such impressions on the sheet, said platen operating arm being operable in opposed directions to carry the platen between retracted and printing positions, means affording a guideway along which such sheet is to be directed to the printing station, a sheet feed finger supported above the sheet guideway and having feed means at the lower end engageable with an edge on the sheet to feed a fresh area of the sheet to the printing station, oscillatable means to shift the feed finger in opposed directions between a forward position whereat one area of the sheet is disposed at the printing station by the feed means to be printed and a retracted position whereat the feed means is engageable with such an edge on the sheet to feed the sheet forwardly one step to dispose a fresh area thereof at the printing station, and said he engaged by the feed oscillatable means including an arm on which the feed finger is supported, a rock shaft for rocking said feed finger supporting arm in opposed directions to shift the feed finger accordingly, a drive arm fixed to said rock shaft and adapted in turn to be oscillated in opposed directions through a predetermined angle, a bell crank having a motion transmitting arm connected to said drive arm, and said bell crank having a second arm engaging said platen operating arm so as to be operated in opposed directions by said platen operating arm.

4. In a printing machine of the kind described having a printing station whereat impressions are to be produced on a sheet successively in different areas thereof, a platen carried on a platen operating arm and effective to cooperate in producing such impressions on the sheet, said platen operating arm being operable in opposed directions to carry the platen between retracted and printing positions, means affording a guideway along which such sheet is to be directed to the printing station, a yieldable sheet clamp in said guideway adapted to hold the sheet in accurate alignment in the guideway, a sheet feed finger supported above the sheet guideway and having feed means at the lower end engageable with an edge on the sheet to feed a fresh area of the sheet to the printing station, oscillatable means to shift the feed finger in opposed directions between a forward position whereat one area of the sheet is disposed by the feed finger at the printing station in position to be printed and a retracted position whereat said feed means is engageable with such an edge on sheet to feed the sheet forwardly one step to dispose a fresh area thereof at the printing station, and said oscillatab'le means including a rock shaft, means to impart motion of the rock shaft to said feed finger, a drive arm fixed to said rock shaft and adapted in turn to be oscillated in opposed directions through a predetermined angle, and means to transmit motion from said platen operating arm to said drive arm.

5. In a printing machine of the kind described having a printing station whereat impressions are to be produced on a sheet successively at different areas thereof, a platen carried on a platen operating arm and effective to cooperate in producing such impressions on the sheet, said platen operating arm being operable in opposed directions to carry the platen between retracted and printing position, means affording a guideway along which such sheet is to be directed to the printing station, a sheet feed finger supported above the sheet guideway and having feed means at the lower end engageable with an edge on the sheet to feed a fresh area of the sheet to the printing station, oscillatable means to shift the feed finger in opposed directions between a forward position whereat one area of the sheet is disposed by the feed finger at the printing station in position to be printed and a retracted position whereat said feed means is engageable with such an edge on the sheet to feed the sheet forwardly one step to dispose a fresh area thereof at the printing station, and said oscillatable means including a rock shaft, means to impart motion of the rock shaft to said feed finger, a drive arm fixed to said rock shaft and adapted in turn to be oscillated in opposed directions through a predetermined angle, and means to transmit motion in opposed directions from said platen operating arm to said drive arm.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,111,020 Hoefer Sept. 22, 1914 1,274,905 Lee Aug. 6, 1918 1,733,329 Bottle Oct. 29, 1929 1,754,361 Hubbard Apr. 15, 1930 1,913,890 Krell June 13, 1933 2,004,202 Horton June 11, 1935 2,121,864 Flood June 28, 1938 2,125,626 Flood Aug. 2, 1938 2,482,542 Hanrahan et al. Sept. 20, 1949 

